1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle drive control system that controls a driving device for driving a vehicle such as an automobile.
As is well known, there has been disclosed a vehicle drive control system in which under the condition that there is provided a motor coupled with the driving shaft of an internal combustion engine (referred to as an engine, hereinafter) mounted in a vehicle and hence the torque of the engine can be transmitted to the drive wheels, when the brake pedal is released while the acceleration pedal is released, the engine is driven by the motor (motoring) so that the vehicle travels in a creeping manner; when an engine starting condition is satisfied, for example, due to depression of the acceleration pedal, fuel injection is resumed so that the engine is restarted; then, driving force produced by the motor for the vehicle is changed to driving force produced by the engine so that the vehicle travels.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, with regard to a vehicle drive control system of this type, there has been proposed a control system, for performing vehicle engine automatic stop/restart, in which, for example, when the vehicle speed becomes “zero” while the brake pedal is depressed, the engine automatically stops, and in this situation, when the acceleration pedal is depressed or when the brake pedal is released, the engine is automatically restarted.
In an engine starting control apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the brake pedal is released under the condition that the brake pedal has been being depressed and the vehicle and the engine are at a standstill, the electromagnetic clutch provided between the crankshaft of the engine and the crank pulley is turned on and drive control is applied to the electric motor generator (referred to as a motor generator, hereinafter) with a target rotation speed of the idle rotation speed of the engine so that the rotation speed of the engine is raised; in the case where after the brake pedal is released under this condition, the accelerator pedal is not depressed, fuel cutoff is cancelled and fuel supply is resumed at a time point when the engine rotation speed becomes as high as the idle rotation speed so that the engine is restarted. In the foregoing conventional apparatus, until the engine is restarted, the driving force of the motor generator makes the vehicle travel in a creeping manner.
In the engine starting control apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, because after the driving force of the motor generator raises the engine rotation speed to the idle rotation speed, fuel supply is resumed so as to start the engine, the engine, which is in a creeping travel mode, is restarted; therefore, the engine is smoothly restarted, whereby the shock caused by restarting the engine can be suppressed.